ETSF25 Business of Software

Project Assignment
Scope
The first steps of a start-up
company from an idea
towards a company:
· a business plan
· an eco-system
· high-level project plan
· risk assessment
Purpose Covered in
Gain an insight into starting Lectures 1-2, 5-7, 9.
a company around an idea, Seminars 1-4 and 7.
training in writing and
reading business plans, oral
presentation, considering
eco systems, and
performing project planning
including risk assessment.

This assignment shall be performed in groups of 4-6 students. The assignment is reported
through a written report and an oral presentation, which are examined and graded.

Submission deadlines are noted in the course schedule (see course web page
cs.lth.se/etsf25). Instructions for submissions and peer-reviews (SPA) can be found in
moodle.cs.lth.se.

Task Description
Your task is to develop an idea for a software-based product or service, and present (1) a
business plan, (2) an eco-system, (3) a high-level project plan and (4) a sales pitch for this
idea.

Write a report: Business model, ecosystem and project plan

The business plan and the high-level project plan are to be described in a written report
with the following outline:

Title
1. Introduction [Business idea] 6. Project plan
2. Market 7. Risk assessment
3. Business model 8. Summary
4. Team composition 9. References
5. Eco system incl user data Appendix: Contribution statements

The complete report should consist of 5-7 A4-pages including references, using the IEEE
two-column template and be written in understandable English or Swedish (not
Swenglish) with cohesive flow using a top-down structure.

Present a sales pitch

Your business idea is to be pitched to intended investors at a seminar.

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ETSF25 Business of Software

Tasks
Subtask 1: Kick-off & Select idea
Create a project group and identify an idea for a new business. The idea can be for a new
product or service that uses software as a key component. For example, Skype provides a
service that relies on software to deliver music to its customers.

Subtask 2: Draft 1 including business model

A first draft of the report is to be submitted describing your idea and including a full draft
of your business model. The report should consist of a minimum of two pages using the
IEEE two-column template (see course web page) and contain (at least) a title and
Sections 1-4, 9 and Contribution statement (see outline above).

The initial version of the report shall cover the following parts (see Venture Cup and
Osterwalder 2010):
· Title
· Pitch of business idea and team (in Introduction section).
· Market analysis (in Market section)
· Business model: Value proposition, Customer segments, Customer relationships,
Channels and Revenue streams (in Business model section)
· Available and needed team members incl competences (in Team composition
section)

The report shall contain a list of references used (in References) and contribution
statements1 describing what each group member has contributed with.

Include a draft of all prescribed sections in the report. Sections 5, 6 and 7 may be empty
for this version.

Subtask 3: Review business model (individual SPA)

Each student should individually review one other report using the checklist from
Venture Cup “Affärsidé”. You are to provide constructive comments that are detailed
enough to be used to improve the report. The checklist is provided below. Instructions
for submitting the review are found in moodle.

1
The contribution statements shall be detailed enough to determine which aspects, topics, parts etc. that
each person has worked on, and to which extent. All authors are to contribute with an equal amount of time
and effort.

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ETSF25 Business of Software

Feedback Scheme
Area Criteria Grading 0-5 Comments
No partly Yes
The formal presentation gives a
Formality

professional impression

The business idea has a clear

customer focus
The business idea is novel
Business idea

regarding the product/service or

the business model
The product/service and/or the
business system is superior
compared to other alternatives
Is it clear which customers are
likely to buy the
product/service?
Estimates of the market size and
share are realistic
Market

The market channel

(distribution, customer reach
out) is trustworthy
Have you described how to earn
money on your product/service?
Business model

The business model is well

thought through and fits the
product/service
Where will you get venture
capital from?
The team behind the business is
well described
Team

It is well argued that this team

will succeed
Summary

Subtask 4: Ecosystem
Consider your business idea in the context of an envisioned software ecosystem. Describe
your ecosystem using an overview picture and descriptive text. Consider the following
questions: Who are the participants and stakeholders, and what roles do they have (Jansen

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ETSF25 Business of Software

& Cusumano 2013)? What software systems/components/OSS/other ecosystems are

involved? Is user data involved, how? How will the ecosystem be governed? How does
the ecosystem relate to your business model?

Subtask 5: Market Analysis

Perform a market analysis for your business model. Consider who your main competitors
are and the revenue streams for each customer segment. Identify the market potential of
your business idea by performing a SWOT analysis of your business model (Osterwalder
2010b).

Subtask 6: Project Plan including Risk Management

Plan for implementation of the first version of the product or service of your business
idea (aka implementation project). The plan is to include
a. All necessary activities and dependencies between these. For software
development activities, these should be defined at the software component level or
lower (if suitable). You can perform activity planning using a hybrid breakdown
structure consisting of the levels 1 to 3 of IBM’s MITP, i.e. define the
development project, its deliverables and components (key work items or
activities). See Hughes pages 135-137.
b. Reasonable cost estimates for all activities identified in a. Activities should be ≤ 1
manmonth with duration ≤ 1 month. Estimate the effort and resource types
required for each activity.
c. Resources allocated to each activity. You can identify resource needs, e.g. with an
initial resource requirements list [Hughes 8.3]
Also, perform risk management for the implementation project by applying the methods
and techniques taught in the course. Identify, analyse and prioritise the risks, and plan for
mitigating the top risks (adjust plan accordingly and describe strategies for mitigating
risk). The use the following as input to your risk management:
d. potentially critical activities, i.e. critical and near-critical paths [Hughes 6.12-
6.15]. This can be done by sketching a precedence network of the identified
activities [Hughes 6.6-6.11]
e. risks related to resources by comparing the resource list (c above) with available
resources

Subtask 7: Draft 2
A full draft of the report is to be submitted containing an updated business model, a
description of the sketched eco system and a project plan for developing the initial
version of the product/service. The report should consist of a minimum of four pages
using the IEEE two-column template (see course web page) and contain all sections
including (correctly formatted) reference list and contribution statements (see outline
above).

Subtask 8: Adjust Project Plan

Consider the human aspects of your business plan (as presented in Lecture SPM III:
Managing People). Adjust the project plan to also consider the risks of managing people.

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ETSF25 Business of Software

Subtask 9: Final report

Update your report based on feedback received. Complete the report, and submit it
according to instructions.

Subtask 10: Send report to discussant group

Send the current version of your report to the project group who will act as your
discussant at the final seminar. Group N2 sends their report to Group N1, N3 to N2 etc,
N1 to N5 (or last group in class). For example, Group B3 sends to Group B2, Group B1
to B5.

Subtask 11: Pitch your business idea

Prepare a 6-8 minute presentation of your business idea and plan, including how and
what you need to realise the idea. The (fictive) aim of the presentation is to obtain
venture capital from potential investors. Use the classical rhetorical model for your pitch.

Subtask 12: Query and discuss another business idea

Act as potential investors for one other business idea. Prepare by reading the latest
version of their report and by defining questions. After listening to their sales pitch, query
& discuss the business plan including the potential market, business model and
ecosystem, and the feasibility of their project plan. What is the viability of the business
plan, what are the strengths and weaknesses, risks and possibilities? Will you invest or
not?

Grading
The project is graded (3,4,5) based on the quality of the report and the oral presentation
(based on equal contribution from all project members), and on individual active
participation in the seminars related to the project and completion of peer reviews.
Projects not passing the first grading instance may be updated, but can then only be given
grade 3.

The project is scored on a scale 1-5 on each of the following 7 aspects, as defined in the
grading grid:
· Sales pitch (oral presentation)
· Business plan: business model, market analysis, eco system
· Project planning: plan, risk assessment
· Form: writing style

The minimum requirements for pass is at least a score of 3 for each aspect, individual
active participation in the seminars and completed peer reviews. The peer reviews must
be of substantial quality and provide constructive feedback to the authors.

The sum of scores 31-35 give grade 5, 26-30 grade 4, 21-25 grade 3.

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ETSF25 Project Assignment: Grading Grid
Note: Criterias 4 and 5 include all lower level criteria. Updated: 2018-10-24

Aspect 3 4 5
Sales pitch Basic structure in-line with classical rhetorical Good use of rhetorical model with logical Excellent use of rhetorical model including
model presentation of information interest grabbing opening and clear conclusion.

Business plan: Basic description of Business model with
Business model targetted customer segment(s), key resources
and revenue generation strategy.
Business plan: Basic description of revenue streams and
Market analysis competitors relevant to your business idea.
Good description of value creation, value
capture, key resources required, revenue
generation strategy.
Good description of the market potential for
your business model using SWOT (strengths,
weakness, opportunities, threates) analysis
Excellent description of value creation, value
capture, key resources required, revenue
generation strategy (pricing, licensing, brand
building etc).
Excellent description of the market potential for
your business model using SWOT (strengths,
weakness, opportunities, threates) analysis

Business plan: Basic description of ecosystem for your business Good description and justification for an
Ecosystem idea including an overview figure.
Project planning: Basic project plan with main development
Plan activities at component level, reasonable effort
estimates and resources. Described by a Gantt
chart and descriptive text.
Project planning: Some basic development risks identified,
Risk assessment prioritised and planned for.
Form - writing style Readable language with some flow through use
of top-down writing structure and standard
moves for introduction.
ecosystem with its stakeholders including the
role of user data.
Good project plan with good coverage of
software development activities and realistic
effort estimates.
Good risk assessment covering the majority of
relevant aspects from Boehm's checklist.
Fluent language through consistent use of top-
down writing structure and good paragraph
structuring including topic sentences.
Excellent description of ecosystem including its
stakeholders, and if it is user or data centric.
Clearly motivated by and aligned with the
business model.
Excellent plan covering all major activities
required for implementing the product or
service in-line with the business model.
Excellent risk assessment including e.g. the risk
of copied innovation.
Excellent flow and paragraph structuring
including topic sentences throughout.