“Let’s Revolutionize Sound…” Thomas Clark [email protected] Hunter Most [email protected] Max Weiss [email protected] Devin Gannon [email protected] Table of Contents I. Executive Summary………………………………………………………….3 II. Business Concept…………………………………………………………...5 III. Product Description…………………………………………………...……6 IV. Industry Analysis…………………………………………………….……..8 V. Market & Customer Analysis…………………………………………….12 VI. Founding Team……………………………………………………..……..14 VII. Sales Strategy……………………………………………………………..15 VIII. Financial Analysis…………………………………………………...…..16 IX. Feasibility………………………………………………………..……..…..18 X. Timeline to Launch…………………………………………………..…….19 XI. Bibliography………………………………………………………………..20 XII. Appendices………………………………………………………………...22 Page 2 I. Executive Summary Who are we? BLUSound is an innovative audio company that offers the ability for listeners to meet their desire of always having their favorite music while changing the way people listen. Our product is a unique design where technology and a professional appearance meet in a revolutionary set of Bluetooth-compatible, memory foam encased, and totally wireless earbuds which give the user the ultimate freedom when listening to music. The founding team for this venture is comprised of Thomas Clark, Max Weiss, Hunter Most, and Devin Gannon. Thomas Clark, the originator of the idea, will act as the Chief Executive Officer and will be responsible for overseeing the direction of the organization. Max Weiss will serve as our Chief Financial Officer and will therefore be responsible for all financial matters including but not limited to investments and fundraising. Hunter Most will serve as the Chief Technology and Operations Officer. Hunter will oversee the design and manufacturing of the products as well as monitoring the overall operations of BLUSound. Finally, Devin Gannon will serve as the Vice President of Finance & Marketing. She will assist Max in financial matters such as bookkeeping, and work to build the BLUSound brand. What is our purpose? BLUSound seeks to capitalize on the fast-growing premium headphone market by offering a product that is totally different from what is currently on the market. For our business model, BLUSound hopes to have a similar structure to Apple. Like Apple, we will offer the highest quality of user-friendly, simple, and elegant designs in a mass- market boutique. We will be on the cutting edge of technology and style while our competitors are stuck producing the same styles of headphones that they been for years. How will we do it? BLUSound focuses our products around Bluetooth technology to remove the wires from headphones, but our design still allows for the use of wires if the customer so chooses. This gives the user the ultimate flexibility and freedom with their music listening experience. We want to sell high quality products to people who desire that quality, just Page 3 like Apple. In order to truly differentiate ourselves in the audio equipment industry, we will persuade the customers by demonstrating “The Why” of our products, in addition to “The What” with marketing strategies targeted at the high quality consumer. The organization will work to make sure customers will be so satisfied with their experience that they will recommend it to their friends and family and allow us to obtain a greater portion of the market share. An initial investment of at least $200,000 will allow us to secure an inventory, build a professional eCommerce web store, and create the first stage of marketing and promotional materials. This money will be raised through the networks of the founding team and through angel investors, and it will also cover all start-up expenses. Based on conservative estimations using industry proxies, we expect that BLUSound will be profitable very quickly and has the potential to gross millions of dollars in profit over the first 5 years As the company gradually increases in size, we will seek strategic partnerships to gain retail space and more market share. After this is complete, we will seek to be acquired by another company in the industry. Page 4 II. Business Concept What We Are All About For the avid music listener who seeks the comfort and convenience offered by an innovative wireless headphone, BLUSound is a new and revolutionary company that envisions a world where superior sound and wireless technology meet in harmony. We deliver high-quality sound performance while maintaining a sophisticated and stylish design. Unlike our competitors, BLUSound is committed to delivering to our customers an experience with products that will transform the way people view wireless headphones by combining a technology and professional appearance, all easily available on our boutique website. Page 5 III. Product Description The Design Our product is a high quality set of earbud headphones that are completely wireless and Bluetooth-compatible. The design is based on two popular earpiece designs. The interior components and design is based on a Bluetooth earpiece used to talk on the phone hands free, but scaled down to make it smaller, and without a microphone. The exterior design of the product is based on the design for memory foam ear plugs. The product will be made from a hard and durable molded plastic shell encased with memory foam and made according to industry standards to fit the smallest 95% of consumer’s ears comfortable. The uniqueness of the BLUSound is due to its design. Never before has such convenience of a totally wireless headphone been packed in such a professional and compact design. Internally, the device will function the same way as any other ear bud with the various standard components connected my copper wiring. Though not entirely noise cancelling, the memory foam tip is flexible to fit any ear, but firm enough to fit snugly and comfortably. This fit at the edge of the ear canal allows for the cutting off of air into the ear, in turn reducing most outside noise. Ultimate Flexibility The design allows the user to have the ultimate flexibility, significantly more so than the competition. The user will have the freedom to listen to music and simply feel like they have ear plugs in their ears. The design also features ports for a 1/8 inch audio cord, so the listener could use cords if they so choose. The individual buds also have ports for a MicroUSB cord, which will be used to charge and power the buds. A split MicroUSB cord will be provided with the purchase of the ear bud set for the user’s convenience so that they can charge both buds at the same time. The memory foam tip also allows the bud to compress to an even smaller size, allowing for easy storage in a custom phone case. Intellectual Property & Liability Page 6 At this time the intellectual property of this design is not protected, but ultimately a utility patent would suffice to protect this design. Having an exclusivity contract with the manufacturer would further protect the business. No government or other agency approval is necessary. The liabilities for this product are limited, but still worth noting. As with any product that interacts with the human body, BLUSound must be aware of the liability that can be created by misuse of the product in any way. This potential issue will be mitigated by the purchasing of product liability insurance, as well as prolific warnings and detailed instructions on the packaging. The same misuse that could be a liability is also arguably the biggest weakness of the product. The earbuds are made of high quality materials, but they must be handled well. Being too careless with the product may lead to damage or sub-par performance. At this time, all that is needed to proceed with the design are the final specifications and agreement from the manufacturer. Page 7 IV. Industry Analysis The Big Players Bose Corporation The largest company in this industry is Bose Corporation. Currently, Bose makes up 35.6% of the market. The company is estimated to have eight manufacturing plants and employs more than 8,000 people worldwide. Bose manufactures automobile sound systems, home stereo speakers, music systems, PC sound systems, aviation headsets, professional loudspeakers and headphones. Bose has a reputation for making high- quality products, though the company does not publish its technical data or product specifications. Boosted by its strong reputation, Bose has a lot of pricing power in the marketplace. Because of this, Bose demands that its distributors sell their products at or above a set price, guaranteeing a predetermined profit per purchase. Bose is a private company and therefore does not report its financial performance. However, IBISWORLD estimates US production revenue at $1 billion in 2013. This is a large downward change from 2008 when revenue estimates were at $2.14 billion. This drop is due to a number of factors including the introduction of another company, Beats By Dre as well as the decrease in consumer spending and the global economic outlook. Bose has cut 2,000 jobs over the past 5 years to account for this trend. Harman International Industries The next largest player in the industry is Harman International Industries Inc. Harman International Industries develops, manufactures and markets high-quality audio products and electronic systems for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. Harman earns about half of its revenue in Europe, about one-fifth in the United States and the remainder in new markets, such as China, Brazil and Russia. Currently, Harman employs 12,221 across all their sites. Harman is organized into three unique business units: infotainment, lifestyle and professional. The infotainment segment creates products for vehicles such as GPS navigation, traffic information, voice- activated telephone and climate control, rear seat entertainment, wireless internet access, hard disk recording and MP3 playback. Harman's lifestyle segment contains brands that offer mid- to high-end speakers and electronics for home and mobile use. The company's professional segment designs and manufactures loudspeakers, power amplifiers, digital signal processors, microphones, headphones and mixing consoles.