Month Twelve – Business Plan Development
It is finally time to start wrapping things up. During this month we create a business plan from start to finish. It might seem like a daunting task to develop a thirty page business plan in just a few weeks, considering most business colleges devote an entire semester to this. It really is not that difficult of a task though as long as you spread the work out. As long as you stay on track and write a few sections each day the task is very achievable. The number one thing I learned this month is how much easier it is to complete a complex task by working at it at a steady pace, rather than trying to do it all in one setting [ok, maybe I didn't really learn since I'm putting the finishing touching on this Leadership Portfolio right before the deadline].
Leadership Portfolio Assignment – Reflection
In any case, for this class we were asked to write an essay reflecting upon our time at Full Sail University and the difficulties we went through when writing our business plan.
It was a great opportunity to reflect on what I had learned so far.
Developing a business plan from scratch consists of a lot of hard work and challenges. Normally it takes months to develop a business plan. However, at FullSail University in the Business Plan Development class we are asked to create a business plan from start to finish in less than four weeks. This makes it a daunting and time sensitive task.
Luckily, every class up to this point has been building up for the creation of our business plan in one way or another. This started with Executive Leadership, our first class in the Entertainment Business Master’s degree, where we picked a concept to develop as a business throughout our 13-month program. Even though every class has been leading up to the development of our business plan, the creation of it was not a road without obstacles.
When writing a business plan thorough research is one of the key components to success. You may have the greatest concept in the world and you may truly believe in it, but it means nothing to an investor if you do not have the numbers to back it up. Unless you have a large stack of cash hidden in your mattress you are likely to need outside investors to fund the startup of your business. Typically this money is used to cover startup expenses and the working capital required to keep your newfound business operational until it starts to generate revenue. A solid and well-researched business plan coupled with a well-prepared pitch is one of the best ways to find these investors.
When creating the business plan for VXGaming LLC, a game development company based out of Atlanta, GA, I ran into several challenges. VXGaming will be developing an online multiplayer tournament system called the VXGaming Pay To Play Platform. It is a plugin for existing first person shooters that enables players to not only play for fun, but also for profit. After installing the plugin and creating a VXGaming account the player is then able to pay on VXGaming enabled servers. Each match on a VXGaming enabled server has an entry fee. At the end of the match the winning player is paid out 90% of the collected entry fees.
One obstacle that I ran into is that there are currently no other gaming companies offering a similar service. This made it very difficult to do competitor research and a market analysis.
I overcame this obstacle by identifying indirect competitors and focusing on those instead direct competitors. As an example, even though the game Call of Duty, does not offer a tournament system. The players who play Call of Duty are the same first person shooter players that I am targeting. Since these consumers are a limited resource Call of Duty become an indirect competitor even though we do not offer the same services.
Another obstacle I encountered was finding out the exact demographics for first person shooters in the United States. I was able to work around this obstacle by interpolating results from various sources. As an example I was unable to find out how many gamers in the US play first person shooters (FPS). However, I was able to find the total number of gamers in the US as well as the percentage of video games sold that was a FPS. By multiplying the percentage of sold FPSes by total gamers I was able to estimate the number of first person shooter players.
One thing that definitely made the creation of the business plan easier was the introduction to business plan subjects throughout each course of the EBMS curriculum. While all the courses helped, I felt that some helped more than others.
One class that really helped me was Finance instructed by Ron Cooke. During this class we learned how to structure the finances for our company. The creation of our Pro Forma in the Finance class saved me a lot of time during Business Plan Development as most of the numbers were transferable. The Finance class also taught us a lot about how to approach investors. I am also a big fan of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad textbook that was part of the required reading for this class. Having a solid grasp of how to structure a business for profit is an essential skill that Ron Cooke taught extremely well.
Another class that I felt I learned a lot from was Advanced Entertainment Law, taught by Cassie Willard. Even though law and legal is not a major part of the business plan, I felt that this class helped me address and research potential legal issues that directly correlate to my business idea. For my case study for this class I researched MDY Industries vs. Blizzard, Inc. This case ruled that you can classify anti-cheat technology as a copyright protection device and that tampering or disabling an anti-cheat device is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. One of the major threats to my business plan is that cheaters or exploiters will use hacks to gain unfair advantages against other players. Because of the ruling in the MDY vs. Blizzard case there is now a legal precedent that enables me to legally make anyone caught hacking the system directly responsible for damages caused.
Overall, I feel that each and every class has been a building block towards the development of me as a leader. I enjoy being in control and assuming leadership positions. In order to be a successful leader you have to possess many traits and skills including integrity, dedication, humor as well as strong communication skills. The courses in the EBMS program are not only built to enhance these vital skills in a classroom environment, but also in the real world through networking assignments, such as interviews.
In conclusion, I feel that the skills learned throughout my education at FullSail (both my Bachelor in Game Design and Development and my Master in Entertainment Business) coupled with leadership skills acquired in the military makes me a very strong leader for the world of tomorrow.
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