The 30 rules to a perfect Capstone

1- You are not presenting to an HEC jury, consider the jury as potential investors! (both
in your written rapport and oral presentation).
● How will you convince them to invest?
● You are an entrepreneur trying to get funding from them.
● Make sure every information you give in your written or oral report highlight your project
(straight to the point!).
● Use the academics tools that have been shared with you, but remember this is not an
academical exercise.
● The "Jury" wants to see, that you have to understand that the cursus has been useful and
that you are using the tools with purpose.
○
2 - Follow the rules
● Keep with the 30 pages!
● You have only 30 pages! Go straight to the point
● Appendixes are appendixes, don’t try to use them to trick your readers into a longer
rapport.

3 - Organize your project on a question

It is best to formulate your Capstone's title as a question to catch attention
(and, by the way, it helps to make sure you are addressing a real need).
 How to multiply by X the revenue of the Y activity?
 How to offer a cheaper and more productive solution to…?
 How to build and organize a digital transformation that will structure the future of my
company
 How to build a new health program for the future of the country?
 Is it possible to…?

I leave the rest to your creativity

4 - Make sure your table of content is organized as a story telling.

● Do not say: Competition and environment in your title, but for example
"Fierce competition but space for a new creative entrant..."
"Market at an early stage but evolving quickly".
 ● By reading your Executive Summary and the story you are telling in your table of content,
investors should be able to understand your project.
● The rest of the written report allows them to understand the details.
Don’t worry, the jury reads every line of your report (including appendix), but investors won’t.
They will read the Exec, the table of content, and some parts of your pitch.
5 - Impeccable Executive summary
An efficient Executive Summary is the corner stone of your report.
No more than one page!

6 - Assume the jury doesn’t know.

● Be clear and concise
● Explain, no "secret vocabulary»
● Short sentences.
● Do the auto-test, If it was not my own project, would I :
○ Like this presentation?
○ Listen?
○ Be interested?
○ Read the written report to the end if I did not have to ?
○ Be convinced?
○ Understand if I had not worked for months on it?
○ Be convinced?
● If you are not fully convinced by yourself, chances that the jury will be convinced are
small

Being a jury member is a stretch.

I remember being during the same week on a jury on “commercialization of maple syrup in the
US”, “Estate market in Caribbeans”, “Quantum Computing” and “selling green beauty products
online” … You are going to be extremely disappointed, but we don’t know everything ;)... so do
investors… They don’t know.
● In doubt test it on an «honest friend », who will give you constructive feedback, otherwise
you are wasting your time and his.
● If you have only empathizing friends, congratulations, this is great to have in difficult
times, not in a Capstone.
● Try it on your mother, your teenager, or on a trusted colleague or alumni.

Tips : if you succeed to attract the attention of your teenager, you have a fantastic project (or
you have bribed your child!)
7 - Which pain point are you addressing?
No pain point = no value proposition = no gain
Your project needs to solve a problem or improve a situation

8 - Market and addressable market

● Make sure to present extremely clearly the market and the addressable market
(what are your sources, how do you calculate your addressable market if no stats
are existing?).
● Customers / users: categories, size, expectations, bargaining power, value attributes …
○
9 - Who are your competitors?
● Describe competition. How do you position and compare to them?
● Competition can be indirect, i.e; Walkman versus I-Pod.
● Macro environment
● Market: size, dynamics…
● Competitors: size, positioning, financial performance, benchmarks, …
● Suppliers & other partners

If there is no competition, 4 possibilities:

● You have not looked enough, consider also indirect competition (how was the need
addressed in the past?).
● You have looked enough and there is no competition. This is key to understand why.
○ Either, you are a genius and a future billionaire (I’m delighted).
○ Or this is too soon and the market is not ready
■ you can either work on another project
■ or decide you will be a pioneer, but keep in mind to have a coherent
funding).
○ There is not enough pain, so no market !
○ This might also show that this is not a good idea :(

10 - Make sure to identify extremely clearly your value proposition and the value chain
● Use personae and proto-personae.
● Identify people within your circles who match your personae and who will give you an
honest feed-back (your family and friends are not a good public, they are biased).
● Would they be ready to answer a survey?
● Write a questionnaire, starting with open questions, and listen to your interlocutor!
● Does he/she brings spontaneously your subject as a pain point when asked on the
generic subject?
 ● If yes
○ Explore how painful it is,
○ Would they be ready to pay to reduce this pain?
○ How much would he be ready to pay to solve the problem?
○ Which model? (one time or subscription…)?
● If no, understand why:
○ Because he has not thought on it?
○ Why?
○ Is it a real pain point?
○ Explore
● Validating with interviews your value proposition is absolutely key.
● Canva is usually a very good tool to clarify the value chain

Then and only once checked, you can rely on the validity of your offer.

Clarify precisely:
● Key success factors
● Key functions
● UX
● Pricing

The validity of the value proposition is the cornerstone of your Capstone.

11 - What is your mission?

● I.e. Google’s mission is to make sure you get the best information as possible
● Ikea's mission is to provide accessible design furniture (not to sell furniture, this is the
mean).

12 - Make sure you have addressed the key success factors/ differentiators
Why is the project going to be successful?

13 - Value Curve
If your value curve shows that you are better on every criteria, good for you, you are an
optimist… or a dreamer…but not a realist. It is not very likely to be above the competition on
every value point. 2 is already a great differentiator. (For example, an I-Pod was far more
expansive than a Walkman).

14 - Use the tools that you have learned to demonstrate the value
You don't use a hammer to fix a motor. You have been given a tool box.
Don’t use them all. Choose them carefully to demonstrate your point:
● Choose the right tools to convince your audience and to demonstrate your point.
● A PESTEL is not always useful, if you need a PESTEL, remember that this is lots of work
to be precise enough to make it interesting, same for the Swot or Porter.
● Don’t use a tool if you are saying generic things.

15 - Who are the stakeholders (external and internal) in your value chain
Be precise!
● Internal:
○ Operations
○ Human resources,
○ Organization
○ Operations
○ Processes,
○ Supply chain

● External:
○ Suppliers
○ Partner
○ Dependence?

16 - Which key resources do you need?

How are you going to secure them?

17 - Strategic analysis.
● Explain your choices and business model
● Justify revenue generation.
● Don’t forget tactics

18 - Revenue generation
● How do you generate revenue?
● Which business model?
● Why?
● Explain
●
19 - The team
 ● The team is the key to success
● Key talents?
● Organization
● Values

20 - Risks and threats. How do you plan to anticipate mitigation?

Don’t waste energy on identifying risks and threats if you don’t show potential solutions.
Still, it is important to do the full exercise.

21 - Never neglect the go-to market! This is key.

● MVP
● Phases
● Clear planning and deployment for at least 3 years
● Be pragmatic
● Explain!

22 - Communication
● How are you going to make yourself know?
● Be precise
● Explain your communication plan (not we are going to advertise…).
● Use your personae!
● A communication for everybody is a communication for nobody!

23 - Of course do not forget your full BP (in the appendix)

● Provide a BP on 3 or 5 years
● Don’t do a BP with 50 lines (you don’t have enough information)
● But provide:
○ Balance sheet structure
○ Internal financing capacity
○ Cash flow
○ Debt capacity
○ Financial visibility, market sensitivity

24 - Funding
● Which funding?
● Be coherent with the scale of your project.
● Shareholders’ willingness
● Market
 ● Market trends

25 - Where do we want to be in 3 to 5 years?

● What are our key milestones?
● How those milestones are impacting our business model?

26 - Make a clear conclusion. Share a clear timeline linked to resources

27 - Only after you finished a first version of the written report, write your executive
summary
Or if you think you needed it to write your report, rewrite it.
By definition, this is and executive summary!

28 - Pay attention to your style

● Make simple sentences, no longer than two lines!!!
● Don't use specialized vocabulary or give a glossary.
● It is a business report, not a novel or a thesis.

29 - Make the difference with an impacting oral presentation

I will soon write another document on the X rules of a successful presentation and send it to
you

30 - In doubt, ask your advisor :) or the Capstone team!

A short check list of important information to consider in your Capstone

KeySuccessFactors& ValueAttributes

Management
Culture
Internal communication
Adequacy of management
Resistance to change
Ability to change and manage change
Coherence of operation
Finance
Balance sheet structure
Internal financing capacity
Cash flow
Debt capacity
Financial visibility, market sensitivity
Level of WCR
Investor relations
Legal capacity and reactivity

HR
Shared value system
Clarity and adherence to strategy
Communication system
Ability to develop staff / Training
Ability to attract talent
Retention of talent
Motivation, Loyalty
Staff involvement
Accepted and motivating reward system•

Organizational system
Value of the information system
Cost structure
Number of hierarchical levels
Decision-making process
Control process
Organizational flexibility
Innovation / R&D
Marketing / Product interface
Technology watch
Patents, licenses
University and laboratory partnerships
Pace of new product releases
Manufacturing process
Improvement of existing products and
technologies
Physical resources
Rare resources
Physical locations
Specific Equipment
Purchasing
Negotiation skills
Creation of alternatives
Supplier relations
Management of volume / complexity
Purchasing / Production / Design interface

Production / Operations
Production capacity
Quality level
Cost control
Production efficiency
Know-how
Flow management

Marketing
New product capacity
Market intelligence
Marketing mix consistency
Brand image
Customer knowledge
Reputation
Sales / Distribution
Sales force effectiveness (domestic)
Sales force effectiveness (export)
Ability to integrate new products / services
Quality of the sales force
Customer loyalty
Activation capacity (links with other departments)
Balance "Hunting new customers / Harvesting existing customers"
Creation of alternative networks

This list is not exhaustive! Don’t hesitate to add any required item!
No need to review each point systematically if they are not needed for your project
Challenge
 ● Assessment of available strategic options, based on the organization’s capabilities &
strategies
● Assess its competitive advantage for each of its business(es)
● Investigation of :
○ Alternative Business models (innovation)
○ Different strategic options, weighted against different internal & external criteria
○ Financials

And carefully considered execution!

● List and schedule of actions needed to effectively implement the recommended strategy
● Key performance indicators to be implemented to monitor how effectively the targeted
outcomes are achieved
● New business model : value proposition / value architecture / Profit Equation
● CSR, Ethics
● Go to market, branding, pricing (this one is particularly key and will not be forgiven by the
jury if forgotten)
● Operations
● Financial forecasts (P&L, Cash Flow, NPV, Funding)
● Leadership and change management, Governance
● Risk’s analyses and corresponding mitigation plans