Entrepreneur Description

(Completed by Shannon MacDonald)

General Information
Name: Scott Metrunec

Position: Team Member – Group #9

Organization: ENG M 402 – Project Management & Entrepreneurship

Department: Mechanical Engineering

Mailing Address: University of Alberta

City: Edmonton Province: AB Postal Code: T6G 2G8

Telephone: (780) 492-3598

E-mail: metrunec@ualberta.ca

Business Plan Title: Instant Audio Translator

Starting Date: 09/19/2010

Duration: 5.0 yrs

Business Plan Summary
The opportunity proposed is an instant voice-language translator device which is based on the
existing technologies capable of converting voice to text, translating text in one language to
another, converting text to voice and converting text for the purpose of printing in Braille.

Initially, the target market includes personnel involved in international businesses who currently
require translators during conferences calls and meetings, as well as international tourists.

There will be five stages of the research and development plan: concept testing, business and
financial analysis, product development, test marketing, and commercialization. After the
completion of all research and development components, the product will enter into full
production and be introduced into its entire target market.

Business Plan Description

Summary of Opportunity

The opportunity proposed is an instant voice-language translator device which is based on the
existing technologies capable of converting voice to text, translating text in one language to
another, converting text to voice and converting text for the purpose of printing in Braille.

The device shall run on easy to use software, which will have to be developed during the product
development phase.

Initially, the target market includes personnel involved in international businesses who currently
require translators during conferences calls and meetings, saving these personnel for an average
of 500 hours of pay per annum for each translator. The target market also includes international
tourists.

Market Research & Analysis

Market research and analysis will precede all other activities. In this stage, correlations with
regards to the audio translating device warranty will be studied, potential customer base will be
identified and major competitors will be identified and our defining competitive edge, market
share will be quantified. The estimated market size and expected trends will investigated by
researching the real usage of audio to text and language translation software trends and Braille
printers in public, government buildings and companies.
Marketing Strategy

To develop the marketing strategy, the market research gathered will be used to determine the
best way to advertise and price our translating device to our potential customer base. Based on
the money available to advertising and the research gathered for competitors and market share,
we can develop a strategy to market our product on business, or tourist, websites, magazines, etc,
for a price that each group will find reasonable. This form of marketing would not use very much
money, but will expose the product to the markets that we have identified.

A completely different marketing strategy will be developed for the Braille printers and
government customers, based, very specifically, on where our product would be needed. This
could involve more face-to-face sales where someone would go out and meet with government
officials to determine if a contract could be developed to produce our device for various sections
of the government. Various models and different price points would probably be the best strategy
to sell this product to the different groups, as business customers would be more willing to buy at
a higher price than tourists, for example. The marketing strategy we use will always be changing
throughout the life of the product, based on what is working to sell our product.

Financial Aspects

Costs are studied: little in research and development (Braille printers upgrade, prototypes), most
of the time and money are spent in marketing costs (advertising or promoting the product to
companies, government and public) and operating cost (installation staff, software support). In
this section, we need a detailed, but not too quantified, initial and final income statement,
balance sheet and cash flow analysis pro forma to have good management grasps which include
details of investment capital funding sources and requirements. Cost control will follow. The
breakeven charts showing the point at which income and cash crosses zero mark will need to be
produced and details of legal cost (forming the company, patents and licensing process) are
estimated.

Research & Development Plan

There will be five stages of the research and development plan: concept testing, business and
financial analysis, product development, test marketing, and commercialization. The concept
testing stage will allow the collection of consumer opinions by way of ballots, questionnaires,
etc. This will collect information regarding peoples’ attitudes about the product prior to
expensive and time-consuming prototype development.
After that, the product development stage will convert the concept into its physical form and the
market strategy will be implemented. This stage involves product construction, packaging,
product positioning, and usage testing.

After the completion of all prior research and development components, the product will enter
into full production and be introduced into its entire target market.

NOTE: References for legal purposes ONLY. Do not need to be included in ProGrid
Assessment.

References
[1] Timmons Model. Preparing a Business Plan [PDF document]. Retrieved from
https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

[2] Group 6. Business Plan Proposal [PDF Document]. Retrieved from

https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

[3] Project Team 1. Proposal for Business Plan [PDF Dovument]. Retrieved from
https://vista4.srv.ualberta.ca/webct/urw/lc5122011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

[4] Antariksa, Y. New Product Development [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from

http://www.studymarketing.org/articles/Presentation_Slides/New_Product_Development.
html