Business Plan on "Pitching a Business Plan to Venture Capitalist"

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The Happy Pup Daycare Center aims to become the number one destination sought out by dog owners in the local area when seeking alternative solutions to providing care for their dogs.

e) Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

Short-term goals:

Gathering sufficient funds to launch operations

Attracting sufficient customers to ensure revenues sustainability.

Long-term goals:

Developing the business outside the immediate local area

Enlarging the service palette.

f) Tagline

The brand statement associated with The Happy Pup Daycare Center is created to incorporate the two pivotal elements in the provision of the services: entertainment and safety. The tagline is short, easy to remember and reveals the values and commitments for which the company stands.

Fun for him, safe for you.

g) Products and Services

The Happy Pup Daycare Center would not be offering any material products, but the immaterial service of providing daycare for the dogs brought in by the customers. The primary service is that of keeping the dog in the company facility and ensuring its well-being while the owner is at work. The services included in the baseline price include:

Walking the dogs twice a day

Feeding the dogs once a day

Providing toys for the dogs.

Aside from these, the center would also be presenting the customers with the possibility of purchasing extra services, namely:

Dog transportation services -- to and from the center, to and from the home of the owner

Taking the dog to the veterinarian or other dog related errands.

As the business expands, the center would also be offering night care for the dogs as well as hotel services -- specifically, dog owners who leave town can leave their dogs in the center, day and night, for a specified duration of time, during which they would be cared for by the center.

h) Current Status

Currently, the firm is composed from the owner -- myself -- and a second person -- a high school student helping with walking the dogs on busy days. A third party is represented by a personal friend and former university colleague, offering pro bono consultancy, but doing so in the hopes of sharing in the future profits. The funds collected from the customers are used to pay for the rent of the facility, the utilities, the expenses with the personnel -- myself and the high school student -- with the rest being saved up.

i) Funding Sought

It is estimated that The Happy Pup Daycare Center requires a $20,000 budget to startup. $5,000 is already owned through savings and the remaining $15,000 is hoped to be received from outside sources.

j) Legal Status and Ownership

The Happy Pup Daycare Center is wholly and legally owned by myself. The venture capitalist would not share in the proprietorship, but would be entitled to a portion of the profits or to the ulterior reimbursement of the budget invested.

3. Industry Analysis

a) Industry Size, Growth Rate, and Sales Projections

The industry for pet care is growing at an estimated rate of 20 per cent per year. There is an incremental demand for saloons that groom pets, for hotels that host pets while their owners are out of town, and the latest trend within the industry is that of providing day care for the pets.

Within a few years, the pet daycare industry is expected to generate sales in billions of dollars. Today, pet day care is at its commencement and presents entrepreneurs with opportunities and low barriers to entry.

b) Industry Structure

The pet care industry is structured into segments based on the services provided. The more common of these refer to the following:

Dog walking

Pet sitting -- sitting at home with the pet, like in the case of babysitting

Overnight pet sitting

Hotel services for pet while the owners are out of town

Grooming per services

Veterinarian and associated pet services

Extended services, such as in-home grooming services, transportation to the veterinarian or the delivery of premium pet foods to the busy pet owners (Moran, 2006).

c) Nature of Participants

The players in the industry are generically divided into two categories -- small size industry players and large size industry players. The bigger size pet care providers operate at a national level and provide a wide array of pet care services. They possess significant financial and otherwise resources and they base their profit generation on operational efficiency. The smaller size industry players operate at a local level and compete by addressing a niche market and serving specific needs. They rely extensively on customer satisfaction and customization of services to fit specific customer needs.

d) Key Success Factors

In order to succeed in this pet care industry, it is necessary for the venture to integrate the following key success factors:

Earn the trust of the pet owners

Ensure that the pet is well treated and entertained (a dog that is not well treated in a daycare center would be reluctant to going there again and the owner would sense this)

Gain popularity and serve numerous customers.

e) Industry Trends

The pet care industry is growing in size as the pet owners grow busier and busier with each year. The general trend within the industry then is that of extending the services offered in order to answer the growing needs of pet owners. Some noteworthy trends include the following:

Pet sitting

Hotels for pets

Daycare for pets

In-home service provision

Transportation of pets to and from the veterinarians.

f) Long-Term Prospects

The pet care industry is expected to maintain its growth trend, and grow more specialized within the future. Competition is likely to intensify as number of industry players would increase.

4. Market Analysis

a) Market Segmentation and Target Market Selection

The market is segmented based on the features which increase the likelihood of the demand for the services offered by The Happy Pup Daycare Center. In the segmentation of the market, the following criteria were emphasized:

Distance from the center to the home of the pet owner. It was preferred that the home was within a walking distance, or no further than a 20 minute drive.

The lifestyle of the pet owner, referring specifically to the social and economic features characterizing their lives. People living near to relatives or with other family members are less likely to hire a pet care company as, in their absence, the dog would be cared for by another family member. Also, people who did not work were not targeted as they have the time to care for their own pets.

Ultimately then, the selected target market is formed from males and females living in the local area, having to cope with busy schedules and not having dependable relatives which can provide care for their pets.

b) Buyer Behavior

Pet owners seeking pet care services are generically busy people, who work long hours and who have realized that their pets need attention and activity. These individuals seldom have children, and some of them are not even in a relationship (Kennel Source). They as such treat their pets like the most important beings in their lives and they want the best for them.

c) Competitor Analysis

The primary competition is posed by The Happy Tails Daycare and Pet Resort, which is a large size company offering a wide array of pet care services. The shortage of this firm is represented by the fact that they focus on efficiency and speed of service delivery. They as such do not possess the willingness or the ability to… READ MORE