1. Innovation Expo 1995
Your Business Plan: Road Map to Success
Mr. Ed Hinckley, and his posted notes, discussed the elements of a business plan
and the importance of financial organization in a business.
The U. S. Government is encouraging small business, because they produce 50%
of private employment, they produce 45% of total business out put, and they produce
40% of gross national product. Two-thirds of innovation is coming out of small business.
All businesses need to be organized before they can start their business plan. Small
business owners need to get facts and provide clear information. A business needs to
produce achievement, perseverance, and growth. Small business needs to work towards
making products, selling products, and financial management of business. The two
reasons business fail are failure to take risk and in activity. In a partnership it is important
that the partners do not pull in different directions to maintain the company’s stability.
The president of a business is to be responsible for the business plan,
employment, providing funding, and to follow through with all the work. The president
of a business is responsible for the 80% planning and the 20% execution of all projects.
The outside board of director’s responsibility is to be sure the president has done his won
work. The decisions made are based on emotions, logic, and principles. The president
needs to be accepted by employees for the business plan to be accomplished.
Analyze your financial statements yourself. It is important to know the basics of
balance sheets and income statement. A balance sheet is a record that shows how much a
business owns and owes. The income statement provides sales volume, gross profit or
loss, and displays fixed cost. These will help in predicting the success of a business.
A business plan should be 40 pages long and follow the procedures of a formal
report. The title page should provide the companies name, address, phone, and person to
contact. The executive summary should be two pages long and hold the credibility of the
businesses. The company’s overall objectives of what, how, and when should be
discussed. The product and current status of the business should be explained. Focus on
12 pages of description of market and competition. Describe who will be manufacturing
the product. Explain how to sell the product and locations of selling facilities. Show how
management plans to seek new investors. Prove that there will be a financial return.

2. Determine how much investment is needed. Use an appendix to help with references of
data and resume of management team.
My critique on this presentation is there was not enough time to go over all the
posted notes. What did you learn? I learned if I wish to prevent failure use facts. What
wasn’t covered that you would like to have learned? I don’t know. Did you personally
ask any questions? No. Were they answered to your satisfaction? Were questions by
others answered to your satisfaction? Yes. My rating for this session is 9. My comments:
The charts helped to understand speaker’s point of view.
Idea Analysis
Mr. Durward Lawson explained the criterions of opportunities. Opportunities will
only develop properly when the market is ready for them. We need to focus on what is
missing in our life in order to find what is needed by the consumer. An idea needs to be
developed before the business plan can be produced. Information used to screen for ideas
leads to the business plan.
Inc. magazine produces a list of what has been invented. An idea is only good if it
promises to be profitable and all other inventors don’t produce it. We need to keep an
open mind when searching for ideas and don’t throw ideas out of our brainstorming. It
may just be the right product. Most ideas don’t make it to market, because the inventor
has a fear of failure. We need to lean to go outside the lines of what is called normal or
excitable in order to create ideas that will sell. The owner should be excited about the
new ideas in order to accomplish the business plan process and determine if the new
ideas will be a good market seller. If the owner is not excited the investors may not want
to invent the new product. Don’t be afraid of the perceptions, perspiration, and
persistence which is used and the ideas that leads to success.
When creating an idea, we need to be aware of the product’s potential. The issues
we need to keep in mind are following: Market, Economic/Harvest, Competitive
Advantages, Management Team, and Fatal Flaws. When researching for ideas, a business
may find its ideas have low potential. If this is the case, the product may not produce a
profit and should not be considered for market. If the product does show high potential it
is more likely to succeed in the market.

3. My critique on this presentation is the topics where slow moving. The panel of
entrepreneurs helped to cover information of where ideas come from, because they have
invented their own products and where explaining their background which caused then to
be interested in developing a product. What did you learn? I learned that a new
opportunity does not have to be a new product. What wasn’t covered that you would like
to have learned? I don’t know. Did you personally ask any questions? No. Were they
answered to your satisfaction? Were questions by others answered to your satisfaction?
Yes. My rating for this session is 8. My comments: The data read out of Inc. magazine
did not impress me.
Patents: From an Inventor’s View Point
Mr. John Christensen believes that if you are not jazzed by what you are doing
don’t do it. It is important to be interested in what you are doing, because being jazzed
will help you make your invention a success. Be motivated about your product and the
hard work which goes into getting a patent; it will be easy.
A patent is important, but it does not determine life or death of a product. A patent
is a document that supports your ideas in a court setting, but does not guarantee any
rights to protect your project from others. Patents allow you to sue others for taking your
ideas. Please note that people are usually not willing to do the hard work of taking an idea
from you on purpose.
Sales are more important than the product itself. A new product’s patent has the
life of 17 years and providing annual litigation frees have been paid. After the 17 years it
is a public domain product. Public domain products can be changed just a little by anyone
who wishes and a new patent can be developed on the new creation. Research on the
projected sales life of the product should be investigated. If it is not going to last as long
as a patent, you should consider the consequences.
The hard work in developing a product to be patented can be a gamble and add
value to your product. A good resource to learn about the patent process is David
Pressman’s book Patent It Yourself. A patent is worth nothing if someone decides to
challenge it. It is very easy to duplicate someone else’s patent. It is impossible to prevent
someone else from steeling your ideas. Infringement is the process of overstepping
someone’s protection rights. This is extremely easy to accomplish without proper

4. research. A list of products that will be used to help create your product needs to be listed
in your patent. The use of these patents is to be approved, by the owners, before you can
patent your product. We should have patent attorney look at the patent. Your patent
should be put into the hands of someone who has the power and money to protect it in the
market. Don’t take a product to a large company hoping they will produce your product.
More than likely, they will reject your idea and come up with something similar a few
years later, because they have a development staff with many ideas in progress. Treat
your product with personal enthusiasm and don’t quit. Make your product as much as you
can yourself. This will provide a source of revenue for you without loosing control over
the production of your product.
To help you succeed in getting a patent use the patent library in Sunnyville,
California. It was interesting to learn that about a quarter of one percent to three percent
of patents actually is issued to the Patent Office. The Patent Office’s rejection rate of a
patent is half to two-thirds. Look into patent laws. Depending on where you wish to
market your product could determine if you will get your patent. In the United States the
first to invent the product has the right to patent, but in some countries overseas it the first
to file for the patent.
My critique on this presentation is that more time was needed for questions and
answers. What did you learn? I learned that ideas do not have to make since or be good in
order to get a patent on them. They can be any form of junk you have created or are in the
process of creating. What wasn’t covered that you would like to have learned? I don’t
know. Did you personally ask any questions? No. Were they answered to your
satisfaction? Were questions by others answered to your satisfaction? Yes. My rating for
this session is 9. My comments: Mr. John Christensen energy made the day enjoyable.
The information he delivered was highly informative. The participation of the class was
excellent to help me learn. There were many students who are just about ready to being
working on their own patent.
Financing: Information Venture Capital
Mr. Kelly Bearden, after waiting forever to give his presentation, explained that a
lack of capitalization will lead to failure. An important tool which leads a company to

5. capital is the constant review of a business plan. The business plan changes about every
six months and should be constantly reviewed.
In order to get your product to market, you need a source of cash flow and
collateral to present to a bank. A business plan should be developed to help provide
finance information to those who will be investing in the production of your product. The
number one source for capital today is the bank. A loan portfolio to present to a bank is
important if you want a loan from the bank. The bank needs to be insured that your
product will succeed. Only five percent of loans are approved. Most businesses fail
because of lack of capitalization. The number one program for getting a loan is called 7A
Program. The 7A loan states that a small business has to put up about 30% of the needed
amount before the bank will cover the project. There are Low Documentation loans
available from banks that will loan a small business up to $100,000. Low Documentation
loans are guaranteed. Revolving loans are for business that need $50,000 or less and live
in the cities of Modesto, Oakdale, and Turlock.
Venture capitalist and informal venture capitalist are good sources of revenue.
Venture capitalist is businesses or individuals who provide short term loan help, who
expect high pay in return, and who are involved in may other companies. They look at
how much money they are to put into a business and how much they will get back, very
carefully. Inventors receive 75 to 80 percent of investments. The Venture Capitalist
Journal is a good resource to find out who has the capital to support your business and
where they are headed in there current business. The venture capitalist has two important
jobs: 1) to raise funds for portfolio 2) select and maintain overseas companies. Venture
capitalist want to support small business that understands there position, want their
expertise, and want financial help. There is about 86 billion dollars available from
informal venture capitalist. Informal venture capitalist is small businesses, friends,
relatives, etc. Sometime these capitalist become partners. Online instruction services help
to match small business to venture capitalist. Online organizations such as Pack Net and
M. I. T. do not take any risk.
My critique is I was disappointed that Mr. Kelly Bearden felt pushed to deliver
his speech. What did you learn? I learned that there are many companies who have the
resources to help set up a financial plan. What wasn’t covered that you would like to have

6. learned? I would like to learn the ways in which to search for information that will
impress the bank. What the bank is looking for and what it will reject for no reason. Did
you personally ask any questions? No. Were they answered to your satisfaction? Were
questions by others answered to your satisfaction? Yes. My rating for this session is 8.
My comments: Not all the information given was clear to me. Someday I hope to learn
more about today’s topics. I was lost with many of the terms. I need a better education on
finances.
My overall rating is 8. I expected a large number of audience and inventors. The
mix of both is what made the day interesting. I believe it was a day well spent. Innovation
Expo is something I would recommend to all. Thank you.
Instructor’s comments: Excellent recap, Ellen nice detail and organization

7. learned? I would like to learn the ways in which to search for information that will
impress the bank. What the bank is looking for and what it will reject for no reason. Did
you personally ask any questions? No. Were they answered to your satisfaction? Were
questions by others answered to your satisfaction? Yes. My rating for this session is 8.
My comments: Not all the information given was clear to me. Someday I hope to learn
more about today’s topics. I was lost with many of the terms. I need a better education on
finances.
My overall rating is 8. I expected a large number of audience and inventors. The
mix of both is what made the day interesting. I believe it was a day well spent. Innovation
Expo is something I would recommend to all. Thank you.
Instructor’s comments: Excellent recap, Ellen nice detail and organization