TABLE OF CONTENTS
Our Mission Opportunity & Strategy Objectives Services Competitive Comparison Sales Literature Market Analysis Summary Strategy & Implementation Summary Management Summary Budgeting Company Summary
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Eureka Consultants
Executive Summary
Our Mission:
Our mission is to tap into the brightest young minds of today and tomorrow by empowering them to research the trends, themes, technological and scientific advances and put forward their innovative ideas regarding any field for implementation in the present era.
Description of the Business Concept:
We will offer a forum to the bright, motivated college students and bright minded people who are passionate and have new ideas about business or technology to analyze the trends, themes, companies and write about them outside of the classroom. We are an informational publishing company which not only provides analysis but also new technological and scientific ideas to international organizations. Eureka consultants focus allows students / subscribers to discuss business, scientific and technological matters most relevant to them and interpret how these phenomena translate into current investment opportunities. Our analysts are also independent from the biases.
Opportunity and Strategy:
The founding partners will rely upon their own investment wisdom and understanding as well as that of their network of peers from other institutes from across the country to create the initial knowledge base. This foundational base will be used as a marketing tool to encourage motivated students from any institute to submit their own original investment and innovative ideas to be considered for publication on the website and newsletter of Eureka consultants. We believe that motivated students will flock to this opportunity to gain exposure and honor through publication on the website as well as in the quality periodical without the need for other monetary compensation. Judging from the quality of investment analyses submitted we would look to recruit additional full-time writers and compensate them accordingly. As our subscriber base continues to grow, so will the number and quality of articles submitted by students. Eureka consultants has a range of possible recruitment and implementation methods including the Internet; promotion via official college and university newsletters and magazines; with business and entrepreneurial departments at other institutes; and lastly through the word of mouth.
Target Market:
Eureka Consultants target market consists of: 1. 2. Business professionals who enjoy a multitude of information sources. College students with business, finance, marketing and technical and scientific knowhow.
Competitive Advantage:
Our competitive advantage is two folded:
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1. 2.
There is currently no other investment publication that taps into the collective collegiate intellect. We will appeal to motivated college students who are frustrated with the lack of response and internship programs at large corporations. o Our subscription would be offered to all levels of people irrespective of their age group. o Because our subscription would be performed electronically, students will not need to relocate nor arrange for lodging.
Eureka Consultant's uniqueness stems from its planned creation of an elite team of college students and laymen who embody Pakistan's most technologically, well informed, perceptive and dynamic generation of youth. College students of today command more respect from business professionals and society at large than ever before. With the incredible success stories of college entrepreneurs, everyone seems to have an interest in the pulse of the collegiate Pakistan.
Economic Potential:
Our five year projected models indicate over one million rupees in annual revenue. Additional valueadded services and cross marketing initiatives could become a contribution to our bottom line beginning two years out.
Management:
The management has unique background experiences. It brings to the table distinct personal qualities that will complement one another as it manage and grow business.
The Offering:
We propose to offer a large minority stake in Eureka Consultants in exchange for our desired financing to cover start-up costs associated with promotion of our services, and business infrastructure. We are open for negotiations.
Risks:
While any start-up company investment necessitates a high degree of risk, we are committed to using any funds received conservatively and wisely. However, Eureka Consultants is not an Internet company. We are an informational publishing company which provides services citing key trends in various industries. We have decided to utilize the Internet for distribution purposes because it is the most convenient and efficient method.
Summary of Business Venture
Eureka Consultants is an informational publishing company whose focus allows exceptionally bright students with business/investing or new technological interests to discuss business and technical and scientific matters most relevant to them and current market trends and how these phenomena translate into current investment opportunities. Our analysts are independent from the biases.
OBJECTIVES:
We will offer bright, motivated students who are passionate about such a forum to gain real business experience by allowing them to analyze companies and technology and write about them and their own ideas outside the classroom.
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Keys to Success
The following is a list of crucial steps in which we will take: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Recruit qualified college students from around the country and properly integrate their research into our services. Ensure that the content we publish is truly original and unique in all aspects. Convince investors and interested readers of the quality and differentiated content of our service. Market our concept to institutional interests at the collegiate level and in business to ensure companies and organizations endorse it. Retain existing subscribers and persuade them to recommend our service to others. Keep our costs minimized to ensure self-sufficiency and longevity in all operations.
Company Ownership
Eureka Consultants will be a privately owned, operated, and funded partnership.
Start-up Summary
At this time, we anticipate minimal start-up related costs associated with our company. We plan on devoting a substantial amount of our personal time and utilizing already existent resources available to us at little or no cost. Marketing and business infrastructure expenses will be the primary source of cash outflow during the beginning stages of growth.
Company Locations and Facilities
The primary operations of Eureka Consultants will take place in Islamabad. Because all activities and information can be tracked and maintained using personal computers and the Internet, we will not need an exclusive office space until our operations have reached a scale in which dedicated office space is necessary.
Services:
Eureka Consultants will publish a website and newsletter that provides product, market trends, theme analysis, company insight, interesting business and technological issues impacting society from the collegiate perspective. The angle that we address is unique in that it is representative of today's and tomorrow's students opinions, ideas and their research. The interest of todays college generation indicates broader themes that will eventually transform society as a whole. Eureka Consultants offers bright, motivated students who are passionate about business and technology a forum to gain experience by allowing them to analyze companies, organizations, science, technology and trends and write about them outside of the classroom.
Competitive Comparison:
Eureka Consultants is a collection of the best minds in Pakistan. These people not only see trends and issues in the market but also will provide innovative scientific and technological ideas that others fail to realize. In addition, our analysts do not have the investment banking ties that create a major bias. Certain trends cant be read in yearly reports and can only be realized at the earliest moments by those with a feel for the future of trends in business, science and technology. In addition, our analysts are willing to perform the more hands-on research carried out. This kind of research could include actually eating at a restaurant with the intent of judging the quality of food service. Our team will be the financial analysts, business professionals and technological gurus of the future. Eureka Consultants provides a forum for these brilliant students to voice their observations and ideas before they become biased by their investment banking counterparts.
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Eureka Consultants uniqueness stems from its creation of an elite team of college students who embody Pakistan's most technologically savvy and dynamic generation of youth. Students of today command more respect from business professionals and society at large than ever before. With the incredible success stories of college entrepreneurs, everyone seems to have an interest in the pulse of the collegiate Pakistan. The Internet has revolutionized the way people are able to trade equities and gather information. The growth in acceptance of this new medium of trading is largely a result of the much reduced commission charges. There is an abundance of online financial websites in existence today that attempt to service this new market of online investors. We do not see these entities as potential threats to our services. We believe that each of these services is not mutually exclusive and that our service will actually benefit by co-existing with other services. The responsibility and necessity of performing research is paramount for investors to make decisions. While nearly anyone can benefit from substantially reduced commission charges, not everyone has the time or the energy to learn the market tactics. Analysts at Eureka Consultants are devoted to studying not only the stock market, but witnessing the trends and themes that appear to them first, and materializing accurate and quality analytical information that cannot be obtained from other sources.
Sales Literature:
Nearly all needed sales literature will be produced in-house using personal computer desktop publishing software such as Microsoft Publisher. We will outsource all of our printing needs. Sales literature will consist of brochures that can be passed out in person or mailed to our initial list of prospective clients. In addition we will publish performance reports including graphs and charts from our analysts using software such as Microsoft Excel.
Future Services
After creating the initial knowledge base for our business and we have a growing base of subscribers to our service, we will explore opportunities to further personalize the relationships between our subscribers and our analysts/writers. Our analysts will become available via email communication to subscribers who wish to further discuss the ideas presented by the writer. We will also explore the possibilities of adding additional channels of more consistent communication between subscribers and writers. One possibility for a future channel would be aimed at the corporate recruitment division of firms seeking top collegiate talent. Eureka Consultants could become a means to establish an early link between corporations and students.
Technology
Eureka Consultants will be heavily reliant upon the use of the Internet as a means for publishing its website and communicating with clients through email. We feel that technology will be utilized strictly to our advantage and we currently do not see any competitive threats resulting from the advent of new technologies. This mentality is subject to change and will be re-evaluated continually in the future.
Fulfillment
The core value of Eureka Consultants will lie in our analysts' role as the brightest and most motivated college students in the country. Eureka Consultants will be different from other informational publishing services in that it represents collegiate Pakistan. Furthermore, value of this company will lie in the experience, education, dedication, and willingness of the analysts and owners to go out on a limb to observe the most pressing trends and tech themes prevalent today. Sound, unbiased analysis of these market trends, themes, and investment and technical ideas, will be our objective.
Market Analysis Summary
Subscribers of Eureka Consultants will be motivated to gain exposure to the pulse of collegiate Pakistan. Eureka Consultants target market consists of business professionals who enjoy a multitude of information sources.
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Market Segmentation
We will target business professionals who enjoy a wide range of information sources. The perspective offered by college students is truly separate from the bombardment of traditional business, scientific and technical periodical sources. The interests of todays college generation indicate broader themes business organizations and technical companies need to be aware of.
Market Trends
The most relevant trend to the success of Eureka Consultants is the continuing recognition of college business persons. After the astounding success stories of college students such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Sean Fanning, everyone seems to have an open ear to the collective collegiate conscious. There is a lot of potential in this idea because the surveys conducted show that the youth have a lot of ideas in their minds and they desperately need a forum for showing their ideas and talent.
Service Business Analysis
The online research industry consists of a handful of all-inclusive websites that touches on only realms of financial activity. Next, there are numerous lesser-known websites and newsletter services that take a more limited approach, specializing in various aspects of the financial markets. Eureka Consultants biggest challenge will be to establish itself as a quality niche service in an arena with wide and bright opportunities.
Business Participants
To our knowledge and the surveys we conducted, there is no other company that offers the same services as Eureka Consultants. However, there are several virtual businesses that charge fixed monthly rates for their analysts' suggested portfolios along with periodic email newsletters. These companies will certainly be competition. However, we believe that Eureka Consultants offers many competitive advantages over these more automated market information services. The uniquely powerful collection of extremely smart college students that we plan to create will separate us from these other standardized information services.
Distributing a Service
Eureka Consultants will be distributed via Internet subscriptions and mailed newsletters, which will be promoted via our marketing campaigns. The highly scalable knowledge-based platform on which we will operate, will allow us to efficiently leverage our business to a large audience. In addition, we will be able to communicate with our clients via our website, email, and telephone.
Main Competitors
Eureka Consultants is removed from these otherwise comparable sites because of our collection of the best and brightest young minds representative of the Pakistani collegiate pulse and also the unique idea of the service itself.
1. All-inclusive online financial services Already established financial sites such as Yahoo! Finance, CBS Market Watch, MSN MoneyCentral, The [Link], and [Link] can somehow be grouped in the same industry as Eureka Consultants. We also group any information provided by discount brokers into this category and most important of all we provide the new research and technologies invented by the people as well. These services provide market research, daily articles, charts, quotes, and much more. We certainly recognize the breadth and reputation of these sites. However, our
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object will not be to take away market share from this group. Instead we will strive to serve as a desired supplementary informational service. 2. Reputable and focused companies: Some of these sites include Bloomberg, [Link], and Hoover's. Each of the aforementioned sites have a more limited arena of expertise. For example, Bloomberg Online focuses primarily on the status of the market and economy while Hoover's provides superb company profiles for nearly all publicly traded companies. 3. Stock Picking Services/Technological Forecasting Persons have set up subscription-based revenue models similar to what we will strive to achieve for Islamabad Consultants. However it is important to note that no such consultancy firm which offers a hub to the technical research of the youth or any Pakistani along with finance related works is working in Pakistan and our main aim is to gain control over market by getting subscribers and parties interested who are willing to turn this research into reality or apply it.
Strategy and Implementation Summary
We plan to collect an extensive network of bright and talented college students as writers and analysts. We will gather student representatives from universities, colleges, schools and laymen across the nation. The position of writer and analyst for Eureka Consultants will become more coveted than an internship because of the manner in which our newsletter will provide students with a voice to be heard.
Value Proposition
Interested parties will have access to the business reports updated and other advancements about the science and technology. In addition, subscribers will have access to a more personalized form of communication with our advisors regarding their own investment ideas as well as further exploration into those ideas already put forth by our analysts.
Competitive Edge
Eureka Consultants is a collection of the best young researching minds in the Pakistan. Eureka Consultants provides a forum for these brilliant students to voice their observations and ideas. Their researches and analysis will be uploaded on the website and there are no such websites and consultancy firms working so far in Pakistan. Eureka Consultants uniqueness stems from its elite team of college students who embody Pakistan's most technologically savvy and dynamic generation of youth. College students of today command more respect from business professionals and society at large than ever before.
Marketing Strategy
Our marketing strategy for Eureka Consultants will focus on our differentiation by virtue of representation of college students and their opinions and advice. We not only seek out the brightest and most motivated students at colleges and universities around the country but also people who have different and new ideas irrespective of their profession and education.
Promotion Strategy
Our most effective means of gaining exposure to a wide audience will come as a result of communicating with the business/entrepreneurial offices at the top universities in the country and also by advertisement. We will look to establish permanent links with these institutions in order to generate interest for student writers as well as publicity from university publications. Also, we will be mailing brochures and information to selective lists of potential subscribers and investors.
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Our promotion strategy will be in-line with our main competitive advantage from a business perspective: our ability to contain costs. We will rely upon inexpensive forms of publicity that reach a lsarge number of potential clients. Examples of such publicity will manifest in the form of articles written for student publications. One publication in which we have already contacted regarding our proposal is Business Today magazine. Business today is the largest and most influential student-run publication in the country and is distributed widely to over 200,000 subscribers nationwide. It is observed that one effective means of promoting our service will come by word-of-mouth from all people connected with our service including our analysts, researchers, writers, and customers. We expect that networks of friends and family will represent a portion of our initial cliental base and that word of mouth will continue to spread. We will be offering incentives for clients to sign up their friends and colleagues. This incentive will take the form of credit toward our existing services for referring clients. We will reward two free months of service for each new subscriber that is referred by an existing subscriber.
Positioning Statement
Eureka Consultants will be positioned as an alternative form of investment advice designed to offer an enjoyable and energetic source of investment, technology advice from an otherwise unrecognized group of people-college students. We provide investment advice and new techniques and new scientific technology from those who will be making the rules in the future. Ultimately, we fall into the category of an informational publishing service utilizing the Internet as well as traditional paper printing methods of distribution.
Pricing Strategy
While we believe that our services are premium in quality, we have decided to offer them for a flat monthly charge. We believe that we should enter the market with a pricing strategy that is focused on convincing possible clients to give us a try. If we were to initially charge a much higher amount, possibly more in-line with the quality of service our clients will be receiving, we may experience a more difficult time selling to new clients. Once we have established ourselves in the eyes of our clients, we will begin raising our prices accordingly. Also, in case a company is interested in a specific idea or a new technology mentioned in our site, we will be giving the rights to use that idea for a specific time period with charges which will be divided among the ideas owner and Eureka Consultants.
Sales Strategy
We imagine that our sales strategy will be a natural follow up from our marketing strategy. Once we have attracted users to our website, the natural progression will be to retain them as subscribers. The majority of this process will be carried out through the website itself. The website will describe the specific benefits of subscribing to our service as well as address any questions prospective subscribers may have. We will give prospective subscribers a sample of the services offered by Eureka Consultants. Sample articles and abridged articles will be available free of charge by accessing our website at [Link]. We will make an extraordinary effort to accommodate new subscribers in the beginning and throughout the duration of his/her subscription. We will strive to familiarize our subscribers with our services both on the website and through the comprehensive quarterly newsletter. For fiscal accounting purposes, this plan begins in June even though we do not expect to receive income from subscriptions until January of the following year. In the seven months between these dates, we will be carrying out an aggressive marketing campaign to attract both subscribers and contributors.
Strategic Alliances
Once we have established Eureka Consultants as a viable entity, we will begin to evaluate strategic alliances and co-marketing initiatives. One possibility for a future alliance exists in another student-operated investment service called [Link] which offers recommended stock portfolio analysis via its website. WSP offers analysis and live quotes for all stock picks and represents some of the best investing
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students in universities and colleges in Pakistan. However, for now, our main focus will be on building the foundation of Eureka Consultants alone.
Management Summary
The initial management team consists of the founders. As we grow, well be looking to recruit exceptionally qualified students. Both partners are currently taking on as much responsibilities as possible and working together on a number of critical issues.
Organizational Structure
We will look to expand our organizational structure of student networks very shortly and tend to divide the contributors in groups related to their field of research or idea and then there will be a division of site maintainers who will upload that research and analysis on the website and a division for getting these researches, ideas and analysis published.
Management Team
All founding partners have unique resumes and background experiences. They each bring to the table distinct personal qualities that will complement one another as they manage and grow their business.
Management Team Gaps
Our management team identified insufficient expertise in Web development as an area of concern. Several solutions to this problem were evaluated: Bringing in a third partner to specialize entirely in building and maintaining the company's website. Hiring a professional Web-development team to build and host a custom website. Partnering with Vista.
[Link] is a revolutionary e-Business Infrastructure Provider (eBIP) delivering a fully automated and integrated infrastructure platform for corporations to rapidly deliver e-business services to their small- and medium-size business customers. Vista provides with an all-inclusive solution to develop our Web-based business. We will be able to access a full range of tools through a Web browser platform from any computer terminal with Internet access. In addition, Vista hosts website and manages a range of smaller details related to maintaining a business on the Web. They provide the tools necessary to implement a fully enabled e-commerce site that has many features including customer database management, password protected content filled areas, email management, and a myriad of other back office applications that will prove extremely useful and necessary. While Vista has empowers to create our website on our own, they also have customer support and technical specialists available 24/7 in the event that we need assistance with any area of our site. We feel that in choosing to setup our business with Vista, we will effectively fill the Web design gap that initially existed. Vista shall allow for our growth and expansion plans as we envision them.
BUDGETING: Personnel Plan
The Writers: Our writers will be students who submit articles for publishing on Eureka Consultants website and newsletter. Only select articles that embody the quality and spirit of Eureka Consultants will be published. The writers will not be paid but will gain the opportunity to be promoted to analyst status through exceptional written articles. The Analysts: An analyst is defined as a consistent writer for Eureka Consultants. These analysts will represent the best of our writers and will be true representers of Eureka [Link] analyst will be paid a
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handsome amount if his/her idea is bought by any company. An estimate of 40% of the amount will be given to the analysts out of the main amount. Eureka Consultants will not have any personnel during the initial stages of operation, during which the partners of the company will handle all services and site operations. We plan to employ 10 full-time analysts by the end of year one. By year three we plan to have 25 analysts on payroll.
Financial Plan
We want finance growth mainly through free cash flow. Well initially invest approximately 1 Million rupees. We recognize that this means we will have to grow more slowly than we might like. We think that this strategy of more conservative financial management makes sense since we are not trying to create a conglomerate financial company, rather one that focuses on what we believe to be our core competencies and interests. We believe in financing opportunities that add value to our company from a cost/benefit analysis perspective. However, we will not blindly invest our resources in endeavors that do not have a high likelihood of bearing fruit in the future.
Company Summary:
Eureka Consultants is an informational publishing company comprised not only of the best and brightest college students but also common people with business, investing, science and technology interests. Eureka Consultants focus allows students not only to discuss business matters but also new advancements in science and technology and their innovative ideas. Our analysts will offer a unique perspective in the following areas Company analysis and recommendation. Business and investment issues from the perspective of generation Y. New technological advancements by the youth of Pakistan. Innovative ideas regarding any field of life. Suggestions for improvement in any new product in market.
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