01/24/08 - Presentation of the winners of the HSE business plans competition {5k} 2007

What is it all about?

The HSE Business Plan Competition is similar to Western universities (Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Oxford). The leader (the initiator of the business idea) assembles a team that works on a business plan (an investment presentation form familiar to the investor) and tries to convince the jury of the success of their project. The competitive process is as close as possible to real communication between investors and businessmen. Work on your project and immersion in the atmosphere of business shows students the reality and attractiveness of an entrepreneur's career. In addition, it is an opportunity to teach business - after all, you will not learn entrepreneurship at your desk.

In February 2007, the Burtniki brothers studied at the Graduate School of Economics at the Higher School of Economics. They learned about the competition of business projects and decided to send their application, not really counting on success. The guys from their team worked in different companies, but in the process of the competition they were so inspired by the idea that when it was completed, they quit to focus on the project. Their project, originally called “Look and Do” (posting online training videos), called Skillopedia.ru and the plan will be open April 1, 2008.

Team

At the stage of the competition in our original team was 8 people. Now 12. The team changed and sifted. Everyone in the team should have one goal - to do business. If the goals do not coincide, then after the completion of the competition it is necessary to look for a replacement for those who simply studied. In a team, ideally, there should be people with different backgrounds, with different knowledge, specialists in their field. For example, a team of three programmers should find an economist if they want to finally attract an investor.

Sample business plan

Our task is to conquer the world.
Advantages over competitors: Our team has Tamerlan, he already has a similar experience ... =) (one of the team members is Tamerlan)

Idea

30 ideas were sifted before we settled on Look & Do.

Budget

• The project budget was $ 200K.
• It was later increased to $ 300K.
• The budget in the amount of 10-20K dollars is not serious, since the investor does not want to spend his time on such a small project. It should start with 100K.

Timing

When planning, you should honestly understand for yourself what you have, for example, three hours a day, and the project will have to be stretched. If an investor subscribes to this, please.

Recipe for success

• Q: Why do you think you won the competition last year?
• A: I remember that (1) we firmly believed in our idea and (2) really understood its economy - we made a clear financial model. The jury should see the prospects for the growth of the project from small to large and serious. After the competition, they were looking for an investor for 3-4 months. Found From September, we started working on the project seven days a week until 11 pm.
• Q: Work so much, probably, very exhausting, are you very tired?
• A: You do not work, you live it, how can you be tired of life? As the plan was created, so according to the plan we go, sometimes we have to make a lot of effort, but we are not out of date.

Salaries

In the business plan of the salary, we set ourselves purely symbolic in order to
enough to put money on the phone =)
All team members have a stake in the project.

Freelancers

There was a trial attempt to use freelancers, but they have a different motivation, a different (without) responsibility, and therefore we have all the right people on the staff.
PS The full version of the speech can be viewed on the video recording of the competition presentation .