While most of your friends in college have dreams of going into corporate positions, you have always wanted to start your own business and be your own boss. After some preliminary study at the US Small Business Administration site, you see one of the first steps in starting a business is to develop a comprehensive business plan. This step is vital in laying out a strategy for success and in acquiring funding for the business.

Review the basics of the business plans at the US Small Business Administration site at sba.gov. To see how other businesses have written their plans, please feel free to go to the sample business plans site at B Plans Inc. http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm

While a real business plan would be quite massive in detail, for the purposes of this exercise you'll be addressing only a very small portion of a total business plan.

Your assignment is to develop a brief but professional company description for any business you want to start. (It may not be an ice cream business)

As the SBA site says: “This section of your business plan provides a high-level review of the different elements of your business. This is akin to an extended elevator pitch and can help readers and potential investors quickly understand the goal of your business and its unique proposition.

Be sure to address:

1) Describe the nature of your business and list the marketplace needs that you are trying to satisfy. Explain how your products and services meet these needs. List the specific consumers that you will serve and what is your COMPETITIVE advantage? (Why will people use your business instead of hundreds of others out there just like it?)

2) What form of business organization will best protect you when you start your business and why?

3) Are there any intellectual property protections you should take for your business name and logo? What are they and why?

Ok, there are three elements to this research assignment.

List any web sites used. No formal method is necessary.

Your paper should be no more than two pages approximately in length.

No set format or spacing is required.

You will be evaluated on the correctness and quality of your answers, noting any specifically named laws involved, having used high quality research sites.